Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday said that Tripura, under the Left Front rule, remained a backward state with nearly one-fifth of the state’s population being unemployed, but the state government had no scheme to attract investments. The Congress leader also cautioned the people about the BJP, saying the saffron party only “makes false promises”.

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“The people in the state want a change. But it should be a change for the better, not for worse,” he said and appealed to the voters to give the Congress a chance for good governance, reports PTI. Elections for the 60-member state assembly is slated for February 18.

“In the 25-year rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front, Tripura has become poorer and it is a backward state now. Eight lakh people of the state’s 38 lakh population are unemployed and the government has no scheme to attract investment to the state. There was no modernisation of agriculture also,” Chavan told a news conference at the Congress Bhavan here.

He said, “The people should not allow the BJP to enter Tripura politics. If they win any seat in the ensuing elections, it will be dangerous for the country.” He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made big promises, but did not implement a single poll pledge he had made before coming to power.

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“Modi had promised two crore jobs per year, hike in the support price for peasants, Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s bank account and ‘achhe din’ for the people, but not a single promise was fulfilled,” he said. Chavan said that the GDP of the country rose to nine per cent during the time of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but due to demonetisation and other steps, the Indian economy has suffered.

He said that the BJP is guided by the ideology of the RSS. “The NDA government does not have majority in the Rajya Sabha but if they get it, they can even change the Constitution of India which would be dangerous for the country,” he said.